April is Earth Month, April
22 is Earth Day
Let's Celebrate Our Precious Earth Every Day!
Information Courtesy of Earth Day Canada

Earth Day, which is celebrated every April 22nd, is the
largest, most celebrated environmental event worldwide.
More than six million Canadians join 500 million people
in over 180 countries in staging events and projects to
address local environmental issues. In fact, nearly every
school child in Canada takes part in an Earth Day activity.
First launched as an environmental awareness event in the
United States in 1970, Earth Day (April 22) is actually
celebrated as the birth of the environmental movement.
This kind of event is a powerful catalyst for change. The
first Earth Day, spearheaded by Wisconsin Governor, Gaylord
Nelson, and Harvard University student, Denis Hayes, involved
20 million participants in teach-ins that addressed decades
of environmental pollution. That event inspired the US
Congress to pass clean air and water acts, and to establish
the Environmental Protection Agency to research and monitor
environmental issues and enforce environmental laws.

Did you know that most of the sugar we consume is in our
processed foods? In order to reduce the hazards associated
with consuming refined and processed sugars, I suggest,
instead, using whole natural foods. I also suggest avoiding
products with aspartame, as it is known to have many dangerous
side effects, too numerous to mention here! Let's focus
on healthy alternatives in this article and leave the dangers
of sugar for the next one. As my first choice, I like natural
sweeteners that are fruit- or grain-based. When using fruit-based
sweeteners, like purees and whole fruit pieces, we are
getting the advantages of fibre, vitamins, and minerals.
Fruit juice concentrates do not offer the same benefits
but they do offer good taste and are a much healthier choice
than sugars. Grain based sweeteners, such as brown rice
syrup and barley malt extract, are excellent healthy sweeteners
as well. Natural sweets like honey, maple syrup, molasses,
stevia, and date sugar are alternatives to the commonly
used white and brown sugars, corn syrup, etc.

The BodyTalk System™
Using Innate Wisdom to Synchronize and Balance the Bodymind for Optimum
Health
by Dr. John Veltheim

Australian chiropractor and acupuncturist, Dr. John Veltheim,
developed the BodyTalk System™ (BT) in 1995. Since
then it has been taught to more than a thousand practitioners
worldwide. Currently there are 47 trained BT instructors
teaching in 17 countries. Graduates include medical doctors
and specialists, psychologists, psychotherapists, chiropractors,
acupuncturists, registered massage therapists, bodyworkers,
naturopaths, physical therapists, osteopaths, nurses, social
workers, and lay people. The basic premise underlying BT
constitutes a new paradigm for synchronizing and balancing
the bodymind that can be implemented in conjunction with
any health care system. The body is a very complex ecosystem
involving a delicate balance between physiological and
biochemical functions, emotional and mental interactions,
environmental influences, hereditary and genetic restrictions,
and the need to synchronize all these factors into a cohesive
whole.

What is the most prized and expensive flower in all the
land? The answer, without a doubt, is the marijuana flower.
It is not grown for its beauty or perfume. No, these hairy,
skunky-smelling clumps, glistening with resin are treasured
for their potent medicine capable of relieving pain and
all manner of suffering. Cannabis is
a member of the hemp family. It grows vigourously, with
all the ardor of a weed, throwing its deeply serrated leaves
up to the sun in an ecstatic frenzy of photosynthesis. Cannabis goes
by many monikers - MJ, Mary Jane, noble weed, two star
dog, headcase, Hanfhaus (Germany), muggles, weed, pot,
reefer, grass, ganja, bhang, "the kind", dagga, naming
just a few.

Phoenix Message
A Journey South Inspired by Crop Formations
by Beata Van Berkom

I crossed the North American continent in awe. It was
a clear sunny day in November, 2003, beautiful for flying.
The trip from Saskatoon, via the "Twin Cities" in Minnesota,
to Phoenix, Arizona, was breathtaking. Invited by Dr. Chet
Snow, I was on my way to represent Canada at the International "Signs
of Destiny 2003" Conference in Tempe, Arizona. Slowly the
mid-western "Land-o-lakes," Minnesota vista changed into
familiar geometrical farmland. Vast agricultural landscapes,
intermittently marked by circular fields, made me smile
as I was up there hurtling through space, on my way to
speak at a conference inspired by crop circles. These circular
farm fields looked as odd against the typical patchwork
quilt pattern as I felt representing Canada at this novel
event.

In this issue we are focussing on the importance of the
environment, with respect to April being "Earth Month" and
April 22 being "Earth Day" (see article above). A healthy
environment is essential to the overall good health of
all human beings and yet, it appears to me there are still
many folks on our planet who aren't tuned into the importance
of these facts. In the last ten years there have been many
important scientific studies and reports telling us, basically,
that almost every part of our environment – water,
land, and air – is dangerously polluted and/or contaminated.
In fact, I don't think there is any place on the planet
that is untouched by pollution. To me this is a sad commentary
on our humanity, but I also know we can all learn to change
our ways and help stop the destruction by educating ourselves,
and by taking individual and collective responsibility
and action to improve how we tread on our planet. In other
words, by being mindful in our daily lives.